May 11, 2013

In Australia . . . .

A CLERGYMAN who allegedly raped boys at a north Queensland boarding school in the 1960s has claimed he was ordered to take female hormones by his headmaster, who encouraged the “romantic love” of children among staff.

Former Anglican brother Peter Gilbert – sentenced to seven years’ jail in 2006 for the rape and indecent assault of children in the 1980s in South Australia – has blamed St Barnabas headmaster the late Robert Waddington for turning him into a pedophile.

In a statement to one of his alleged victims, Gilbert said Waddington was molesting children himself and the Anglican priest would absolve the young teacher of his abuse of children in the confessional.

Church officials believed claims were true

FORMER Anglican church officials have admitted they believed a former school headmaster had abused children at a north Queensland boarding school, despite telling a victim during mediation over a compensation payout that his allegations were not proven.

For more than six years, Anglican officials dismissed the allegations of Queensland pensioner Bim Atkinson that he had been sexually abused between 1964 and 1968 by the Reverend Robert Waddington, the former headmaster of St Barnabas boarding school in Ravenshoe, on the Atherton Tablelands.

In documents and letters obtained by The Weekend Australian, senior church officials in England and Australia told Mr Atkinson, now 59, that Waddington had denied the allegations and his claims were “not proven”, despite an internal investigation.

In London . . .

Church abuse suspect ‘investigated three times’

A senior Anglican clergyman suspected of serial child abuse was “very calculating”, a former Church of England child protection officer said yesterday.

The Rev Ray Morris said he interviewed the Very Rev Robert Waddington, former Dean of Manchester Cathedral and once the head of education for the Church, in 2004 about allegations that he abused schoolboys when a headmaster in Australia. This means the Church investigated Waddington, who died at 79 in 2007, three times without referring him to the police.

Lord Hope of Thornes, who was Archbishop of York from 1995 to 2005, examined allegations against him in 1999 and 2003. He did not report the concerns to the authorities.